The future of entrepreneurial finance will be appraised by a panel of top entrepreneurs, academics, policymakers and startup financiers Friday in Boulder.

The University of Colorado's Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship is hosting its fifth annual Entrepreneurship Conference with a focus on finance.

Panelists and speakers for the event, which runs from 1 to 6:30 p.m. at the CU Law School, range from the senior adviser for the Business Affairs Office of Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., to the managing director of local entrepreneurial accelerator TechStars.

Brad Bernthal, associate clinical professor of law at CU and entrepreneurship initiative director at the Silicon Flatirons Center, said there are three factors as to why it was timely to explore the future of entrepreneurial finance this year.

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"Companies are bundling investments with super-intense supervision, oversight, mentorship and expertise along the way, and that's a really interesting model for startup finance," Bernthal said.

Second is the growing trend of "super angels," investors who put money into a greater number of startups, but at a lower dollar amount than regular venture capitalists.

"I think funding is headed toward more micro-financing," said Jason Mendelson, co-founder of Boulder's Foundry Group. "Whether it is crowdsourcing or small venture capitalist, I imagine the future to be small."

The third piece is the newly passed JOBS Act and its attempts to help emerging companies go public faster, allowing crowdfunded investing and the use of solicitation to attract accredited investors.

"We will be looking at the JOBS Act and which parts will be most influential and impactful in the future," said Richard Levin, a counsel for Baker Hostetler who will be speaking on the JOBS Act panel.

The conference will hold a total of three panels Thursday afternoon: "When Should Capital Be Bundled with Outside Management and Oversight," "Sizing Up the JOBS Act" and "Future Fund Structures for Entrepreneurial Finance."

New coordinator pushes Buffs to work, play at level he expectsJim Leavitt has discovered this much about his new defense at Colorado: He has some talent with which to work, but his players need to put it in another gear. Full Story

New coordinator pushes Buffs to work, play at level he expectsJim Leavitt has discovered this much about his new defense at Colorado: He has some talent with which to work, but his players need to put it in another gear. Full Story